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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Summer Bliss

When summer hits, I lose the will to blog. I get caught up in recreational stuff, and somehow being on the computer loses its appeal. But I'm really going to try to check in more often this summer than I have for previous ones, because I hate it that all of those memories go unrecorded.

So here is my first attempt to check in when I feel no drive whatsoever for blogging....don't expect stellar writing skills or doses of witticism in this post, because, at the moment, I really have none. I'm actually already thinking about the book I was reading that's beckoning for me to come back, so I'm probably going to rush through this.

Summer is off to a fantastic start! Friday and Saturday I pretty much spent all day--off and on-- at the movies. Not watching movies, unfortunately. That would've been a lot of fun. But no, we were there because the dojo was doing karate demos all day, and Trin was one of the demonstration participants. The demos were very cool. Before every showing of Kung Fu Panda (which was a lot, since there were four theaters playing the movie), the demo team would pop out from beneath the stage curtains, much to the surprise of the audience, and do an energetic skit involving cool music, ninja moves, and Po the panda. I loved being in the audience right before the demo started, because I knew that no one had any idea what was about to happen. It's always fun to see their reactions. This is the third time that the dojo has done this (Tron and Karate Kid were the previous ones), and we've gone to every one, but this was the first time Trin was invited to participate. She had a blast during both days and took up residence at the theater quite confortably, since, let's face it, she practically lived there. I, meanwhile, tried not to cringe too much at the fact that her diet for two days straight consisted of hotdogs, popcorn, and soda.

On Sunday we went to church, out to lunch, and then tore out the carpet from our new (but not-so-new) RV. My parents recently gave us their motorhome, and I'm so thrilled about it, although with current gas prices, I'm not sure how often we will actually be able to use it. The RV is old...an '84, I believe, but not as ugly as it could be for that vintage. It actually looks very clean and almost new on the outside. The inside is also very clean, but dated. We decided right away that the old, brown carpeting had to go. So we went to Home Depot and found a remnant of brand new Berber carpet for $75. The remnant is enough to do two RVs. It came out to about thirty-some cents a square foot--ridiculously cheap! So on Sunday we tore out the old carpet, and yesterday Clint installed the new. I was there to keep his iced-tea full and to lounge around on the grass and holler at him what a good job he was doing--you know, moral support. ;-) At any rate, the carpet brightened up the entire motorhome...I love it. We also ordered a futon cover for the old worn-looking couch, and I bought some new throw pillows. The last thing I want to do is change out the curtains, but Clint likes the ones that are there, so we'll see. We're planning to take the RV out on a weekend retreat soon to Soledad Canyon, just to try it out, so I'll be sure to post about it.

Today Teri picked up the kids at 8:00 this morning for some learning activities at her house, so I took advantage of my alone time and sunbathed outside while reading. I completely ran out of books to read the other day (I've finished seven now from my booklist), so I ordered several more from Amazon. In the meantime, I had nothing to read. In my desperation I went through Trin's library (the girl owns bu cu books) and found The Neverending Story. It is a wonderful story so far--so much more in depth than the movie--but the only thing that confuses me is the book has 396 pages, yet the conflict is resolved by page 185. This is also the about the same place the movie ends. What exactly does the author intend to do with the remaining 200-and-some pages? Anyway, after sunbathing and picking up the kids, I took them out to lunch, and then we went to the library. Our city's library is awesome. It used to be this tiny little structure with unsightly metal racks full of exhausted paperbacks. But a few years ago they moved to a new location and completely reconceived the whole thing into this gleaming, modern utopia for book-lovers. The kids and I chose several books each and sat at a table, reading, for who knows how long. Then we each checked out our books. I was worried we had too many (eleven between the three of us), but the lady informed me we could have up to thirty on one card. Thirty! Wow. And Trin has her own card, so that's sixty! Plus Elijah is getting his own card next week, so that's ninety! Can you imagine? There's no way I'll ever check out even thirty. Honestly, I'd be perfectly content with just two at a time. But Elijah reads much smaller books at his age, so he's the one driving my total up.

Teri is keeping my kids four days a week from 8:00 to noon for learning activities the first two weeks of summer (bless this woman!), so tomorrow I'm going to go to the movies and see Bridesmaids. I've only been to the movies one other time completely alone, and I really enjoyed the experience, so I'm excited to do it again. On Thursday, while the kids are gone, I'm going to sit at Starbucks for an hour or two and read. I've always wanted to do that, but never could, because...well...kids don't like it when you plop your ass down in a coffee house for two hours. But now I can! I feel like I have this whole bucket list of kid-free things I need to accomplish these next ten days.

Considering I have no motivation for blogging, I am really rambling out of control, so I'm going to get back to my Neverending Story now before this becomes the Neverending Blog.

6 comments:

I feel your pain about summer blogging. I have no drive to write on my personal blog, but I love to book blog. Strange how that works, but I think it's because all I'm doing right now is reading, and reading, and reading... and reading! I don't think I could actually run out of books to read, but that's because like a fool I always buy books when I have dozens of others on the to-be-read list.

About the library, it's funny you should mention it because I was just talking about it with my mom yesterday. I was telling her that our library is the pits, and that I can't want to move back because of the new library there! Of course, there are many, many other reasons, but the library ranks! My only aversion to library books is that I have to take them back. Boo!

Congrats on the RV and getting some updates. Sounds like fun. Gas is actually going down a bit and if it still does maybe you can afford a road trip! I swear, I'd say gas is more expensive than gold, but considering gold's about $1500 an ounce right now, that saying's going to have to sit on the shelf. ;)

I noticed your quite active at your book blog! I'm glad because it gives me something online to read. I know every summer I go through a blog drought, wherein not only am I ignoring my blog, but everyone else is, too. I feel like saying, "Hey, just cuz I'm being lazy doesn't mean you can too. I need something to read!"

Have you been to the new library out here? It's really something, considering where we live. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it's missing that nostalgic element that characterizes older libraries. But that's the price you pay for modern, I suppose.

A motorhome! I'm so jealous. That is one of our dreams. We look forward to seeing the country on our own time in the future. It is an expensive prospect right now, however. You guys will have a blast!

Did you enjoy Bridesmaids? It was pretty funny, but I expected more. I guess it had built up so much that I expected to double over in laughter. I don't know. It was good, however.

I go to the movies alone pretty often and really love it. I also like to go to Barnes and Noble and hang around to read, although StarBucks sounds like a great plan. I'm glad you are enjoying the summer.

You might not be so jealous when you see how old it is, Niecy! But I am still really excited about it. I can't wait to take it on a trip. We bought a little flat screen TV for it today, too, so even if the gas prices don't let up, it will make a great guest room. Or man cave. LOL.

I had heard such great things about Bridesmaids, so I was a little let down. There were some geniunely funny scenes, but overall the comedy seemed a little awkward and forced, and the love interest between her and the cop just sort of fell flat for me. Plus I didn't feel like all the loose ends were tied. Like, what happened with her and baking? Honestly, I'd like to have a few margaritas and try the movie again. THEN I bet I'd be rolling with laughter.

I think it's so great that you do recreational stuff by yourself. I'm trying to do more of that this summer. :)

Sorry Shan, but on the bright side, at least you live walking distance from the lake. Hopefully that will let you squeeze in some summery leisure time. Plus it's so gorgeous up in the mountains over summer, you may as well be staying in a resort. Well, a resort in which you are raising five kids, working, and writing a dissertation. But it's almost the same. ;-)